Drop City Yacht Club (Interview & New Single)

Somewhere at the intersection of T-birds and subway cars, sand and flannel, and palm trees and boom boxes is Drop City Yacht Club. The California-based group’s hooks are uptempo pop while verses draw you in lyrically. Their breakout hit “Crickets,” for instance, regales the plight of being rejected. “ I got turned down 7 times tonight,” DCYC’s A. Wolf says at DC’s 9:30 Club on the opening night of their tour with Goodie Mob. They tell me their breakout track “Crickets” is not only about being dissed by a girl but also the frustrations with rejection they had all experienced as solo artists in the music industry.

“When we first started we were like we need two rappers and a producer, it’s gonna look cool,” A. Wolf says. The group talks over each other and often finishes each others’ thoughts, plaid-clad platinum-blond Kristo and sailor-cap-and-shades-sporting THX matching A. Wolf’s chatter. “There’s really no roles anymore; this is more of a band than a group,” Kristo says. “It functions as a band, it has the genetic makeup of a band, it just happens to be rap music. We write like a band.” THX continues, “All three of us write, all three rap, all three of us sing, and all three of us produce – we do everything together.”

Of the three, A. Wolf is by far the most off the cuff, spinning stories both true and otherwise with improvised ease. Kristo often intercedes on the listener’s behalf, comically contrasting A. Wolf’s statements. A. Wolf tells me about the kitten he found on the way to the studio that he and Kristo sacrificed (Kristo: “You did the kitten one last time bro, you gotta do the baby duck one), the porn film Kristo will be starring in when they’re back home (Kristo: “It’s almost done,”), and the tiny boats he builds inside glass bottles when not touring (Kristo, finally: “He’s fucking with you, these are all lies.”)

“Let’s argue real quick,” A. Wolf says, then yells, “Fuck! Tell those guys that we’ll do it whenever we wanna do it! Now you say something mean back,” he says to Kristo. “Say ‘dude, your face sucks.’” Kristo laughs. “It’s funny cuz it’s true!” THX stays for the most part out of these exchanges, more consciously amused by the bizarre hilarity of their banter.

Between discussing the best way to rob a bank (strapped with hot dogs in lieu of dynamite sticks) or the baby-making powers of Gary Clark Jr. versus AMG, the conversation about music becomes more focused. Although they each had solo careers prior to becoming DCYC, the California natives became united by their love for hip hop and 60’s rock, feeling stagnant in their careers and interested in doing something different creatively. They often describe their sound as a combination of the Beach Boys and the Beastie Boys, incorporating meaningful hip hop and big pop hooks into their sound and breaking genre barriers in the process. “When we first started making music nobody knew what the fuck it was. Everybody would come in, we would play songs in the studio, even the dude who introduced us, people would come in and listen to these records and go ‘oh, these are fucking great, these are huge records, but what is it?’”

If DCYC is hard to categorize, it’s not keeping them from mainstream success; “Crickets,” which features “Birthday Sex” crooner Jeremih, has met with a huge amount of success. “He makes a good fuckin’ lasagna, too,” A. Wolf says. “Dude. His vegan lasagna? Amazing.”